Fish & Richardson Settles Suit Against Ex-Partner Over Patent Sale
Fish & Richardson has settled its lawsuit against ex-partner Scott Harris that claims he breached his duties to the firm by selling his inventions to patent trolls, one of which sued a firm client.
Fish & Richardson had claimed an ownership interest in the patents Harris sold and alleged he worked on his inventions without law firm authorization, the Daily Journal reports (sub. req.). Harris had responded in a countersuit that the firm knew about his work all along, and he sold the patents because the firm was worried about conflicts.
Terms of the settlement are confidential, the story says. However the lawyer for Harris, Paul Vickrey, said the law firm agreed to give up ownership claims on patents in two pending infringement suits, the story says. Harris said he also had to compromise. “I did give some stuff up that I didn’t want to give up,” he told the publication.
One of the patents at issue was for a new method for online page turning that resulted in an infringement lawsuit against firm client Google. The Google suit has since settled.
Before the settlement reached yesterday, the bitter dispute between the law firm and Harris “raged on in harshly worded briefs and discovery demands,” the story says.
